George Fu Gao has been a key leader in the public health field, making remarkable contributions to research and discovery through basic research, clinical evaluation and advocacy. He has made many remarkable contributions to the scientific field of control and prevention of emerging infectious diseases. He obtained his DPhil degree from Oxford University, UK and did his postdoc work in both Oxford University and Harvard University (with a brief stay in Calgary University). Gao worked in Beijing Agricultural University (1986-1991), Oxford University (2001-2006), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy Sciences (2004-2008, Director-General). China CDC (Director-General, 2017-2022), National Science Foundation of China (Vice-President, 2018-2022). Gao is a member (academician) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), an international member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a foreign member of the U.K. Royal Society (RS), a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, a fellow of African Academy of Sciences and a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).

Rajinder as CEO-DCVMN International is responsible for leadership, governance, strategic vision and overall operational excellence of DCVMN.  Rajinder is appointed as member GAVI’s Vaccine Investment Strategy (VIS) Steering Committee 2024, a permanent member of CEPI’s Joint Coordination Group (JCG), 2023-24, member PAVMs Talent Development WS and Regional Vaccine Manufacturing Collaborative (RVMC). To meet an un-precedented challenge posed by COVID-19, Rajinder has been actively involved in all global strategic initiatives along with COVAX partners-WHO, GAVI, CEPI, UNICEF and several other international organizations including industry associations to ensure equitable and timely access to vaccines. He has been member of several advisory expert groups including COVAX Manufacturing & Supply Chain Task Force Leadership Team, G-20 Health Working Group and Market Design and Demand Intelligence pillar of PAVM. Rajinder has over 25 years of top management experience in the industry including at the Board of Directors of the Indian subsidiary of Sanofi Pasteur and as CEO-Panacea Biotec. He has served as Member-GAVI-PPC as well as Vice-President, DCVMN Executive Committee.

Melanie Saville, MBBS, is PATH’s Chief Scientific Officer. She leads PATH’s product development division, which includes a global team dedicated to the development, introduction, and scale of vaccines, medical devices, and diagnostics.

Dr. Saville is a distinguished physician specializing in virology with more than two decades of experience developing and licensing vaccines for global use. Her contributions over the past 20 years have included the development of vaccines for seasonal and pandemic influenza, as well as pediatric combinations and vaccines against rabies, Japanese encephalitis, dengue, Ebola, and SARS-CoV-2.

Before joining PATH, Dr. Saville worked with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), where she served as the Executive Director of Vaccine Research and Development, leading technical teams supporting vaccine development. She also served as the R&D and manufacturing workstream leader for COVAX, part of a global collaboration to speed development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.

Dr. Saville holds a medical degree, a master’s degree in medical virology, and a Bachelor of Science in molecular biology from University College, London.

Dr. Hun Kim is the President of Global Business at SK Bioscience. His role is to oversee the company's product and platform portfolio in a comprehensive perspective from R&D to commercialization through global alliance and external innovation.

Dr. Hun Kim started his biopharmaceutical career in 1992 as a researcher at Green Cross Corporation, In 2000, he moved on to Berna Biotech, a part of Crucell at present. In 2008, he joined SK Chemicals,the parent company of SK Bioscience, and lead the company's expansion in vaccine R&D, Quality and manufacturing capabilities.

Under his oversight, the company developed and received approval for cell culture-based influenza vaccines (SKYCellflu/SKYCellflu Quadrivalent), varicella/herpes zoster vaccines (SKYVaricella/SKYZoster),and Pneumococcal Conjugation Vaccines. During the Pandemic, it successfully manufactured and supplied COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and NovaVax. With support from CEPI and BMGF, SK Bioscience also developed its own COVID-19 vaccine (SKYCovione), which became the first domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine to be approved in Korea.

Dr. Joon Haeng Rhee is a graduate of Chonnam National University Medical School and received PhD from the same university. He has been working on molecular microbial pathogenesis and vaccine biology for more than 30 years. His team was the first reporter of the whole genome sequence of V. vulnificus, which became one of the most widely used standard strains in the Vibrio research field. Vaccine study was first started aiming the high mortality V. vulnificus infections. During the vaccine research, his team came across the finding that a flagellin protein of V. vulnificus has an excellent mucosal adjuvant activity in late 1990s. Now flagellin is applied to the development of effective vaccines and immunotherapeutics against diverse diseases such as cancers, allergies, and Alzheimer’s disease. He served the president of Korean Vaccine Society (KVS) from 2013 to 2015. He was elected as an ISV Fellow and serves a member of ISV Executive Board. He is currently the director of Clinical Vaccine R&D Center and Combinatorial Tumor Immunotherapy Research Center of Chonnam National University. As of November 2023, he has more than 170 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and named as an inventor on 40 patents.

Prof. Ken J. Ishii, M.D., Ph.D., currently Director for Int. Vaccine Design Center, The Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo, has 27 years of experience in Vaccine R&D since 1998 including 7 years as a IND reviewer at US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 15 years as a basic immunologist at Osaka University, 9 years as a vaccine adjuvant expert at National Institute (NIBIOHN), 2 years as managing director at AMED (medical funding agency), as well as Advisor for PMDA (regulatory agency), GHIT (global fund) and CEPI. He has contributed to basic research on infectious diseases and immunology, resulted in numerous books and over 250 periodical publications and 35,000 citations with H-index 84 as well as over 50 patents related to vaccine and adjuvant, and to regulation of many vaccines and guidelines for vaccine preclinical and clinical trials in Japan and US.

Dr. Raman Rao joined as the Chief Executive Officer at Hilleman Laboratories in February 2020. Dr. Rao has more than two decades of experience in research and development, manufacturing and commercialisation of vaccines for infectious diseases in global pharma and biotech companies. Prior to joining Hilleman Laboratories, Dr. Rao served as the Vice President of Global Product Operations with Takeda, Singapore, where he enhanced the global product portfolio while successfully leading an international team across Japan, Singapore and the United States. The teams worked in the areas of dengue, norovirus, zika, polio and other vaccines.

Dr. Rao started his career in 2002 with Shantha Biotechnics Limited, part of Sanofi Aventis Group in India, in Clinical Research and Scientific Affairs. He holds a MD in Medical Microbiology from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research.

He plans to carry forward Dr. Maurice Hilleman’s legacy for providing effective solutions for global health, especially those impacting low- and middle-income countries.

Meng LI has been leading the International business team of CNBG since 2013, oversees CNBG’s international cooperation and registration activities. She also serves on the board of CNBG-Virogen, and the board of Emerging Biopharmaceuticals Manufacturers Network (EBPMN). During her 19 year experiences in biological industry, she established extensive networks with academia, NGOs, enterprises internationally, and successfully completed a number of landmark projects. Including the bOPV capacity expansion and prequalification program with BMGF (received over 23Million USD financial supports from BMGF, prequalified by WHO in 2019), establishment of CNBG’s first JV with foreign enterprise, the first overseas acquisition by CNBG, roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine PhIII trials in 6 countries and its registration in over 100 countries. Meng Li has successfully signed a number of in-license, research cooperation, commercialization and industrialization projects with NIH, Oxford, France Institut Pasteur, PATH, IVI, biotech companies and developing country manufacturers. She worked as temporary advisor to WHO inspectorate during WHO’s first inspection to China NMPA in 2010, and was elected as the executive committee member of DCVMN from 2014-2016.

Dr. Bin Wang is the Co-founder, Chairman of Advaccine Biotechnology Co LTD. He is also holding a distinguished professor position at the Fudan University School of Basic Medical Sciences and serves as the chairman for the Nucleic Acid Vaccines branch of the Chinese Vaccine Society. His research area is focused on the effects of therapeutic vaccination to activate T cells and the mechanism of immune regulations. He has developed novel adjuvants and recombinant vaccines, novel DNA vaccine delivery, and led to several developed vaccines being tested in human clinical trials. He received his Ph.D. from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine in 1990. He completed his postdoc training in virology and immunology at the Wistar Institute in 1992 in Philadelphia. He became an instructor and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School from 1993 to 1998. He was a professor and served as the Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology for six years at the College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University before he joined Fudan University. He was one of the very early DNA vaccine technology inventors in the 90’s and performed the first-in-human DNA vaccine trials in 1994-1996. He has been involved in several clinical trials of therapeutic vaccines against chronic HBV infections in recent years and invented a novel prophylactic RSV vaccine currently under clinical phase II testing. He has published over 160 peer-review articles and awarded 35 US and 30 Chinese patents. He serves as an editorial board member for several international journals and executive member in several professional societies.

Professor Linqi Zhang is the Director of the Comprehensive AIDS Research Center at Tsinghua University. Prof. Zhang's research focuses on HIV-1 pathogenesis and vaccine development, and has recently expanded to the field of emerging and re-emerging human viral pathogens such as SARS-CoV-1/2 and MERS-CoV. Using cutting-edge antibody and combinatorial antigen library techniques, Prof. Zhang’s research aims to characterize protective antibody immunity in infected humans and rational design of effective vaccines and therapies against the viral infection. Professor Zhang is the recipient of the National Outstanding Young Scientist Award, privileged Changjiang Professorship, and Bayer and Vanke Chair professor. He has published extensively and is among the most cited Chinese researchers in the field of microbiology and immunology. Professor Zhang has also served as a member of national expert and advisory board to the Chinese government and several international organizations on HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases,and was recently elected as a Foreign Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences.

Shaowei Li Ph.D. Professor of Biochemistry and Structural Vaccinology, Xiamen University Shaowei Li is a tenured Professor of Biochemistry and Structural Vaccinology in the School of Life Sciences with a joint appointment in the School of Public Health, Xiamen University, China. He is the vaccine group leader in the National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in infectious diseases (NIDVD), one of the academic leaders in the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Diagnostics, deputy director in Fujian provincial Xiang An biomedicine laboratory. Dr. Li has inter-disciplinary research interests focusing on structural vaccinology, resulting in more than 120 peer-reviewed papers. He also has translational experience in vaccine development against infectious diseases—such as Hepatitis E vaccine and HPV vaccine, especially in aspects of immunogen design, process development and antigen characterization. Dr. Li has won two of China’s National Science and Technology Awards and been listed in the Top 20 translational researchers of 2016, ranked by Nature Biotechnology. He has served on the Product Development for Vaccines Advisory Committee (PDVAC), World Health Organization (WHO) since 2022.

Dr Robbert van der Most obtained his cum laude PhD in 1994 at Leiden University (Netherlands) on the topic of coronavirus molecular biology. He then conducted postdoctoral work on the immunology of chronic viral infection with Dr Rafi Ahmed(UCLA, Eiory University, USA) and flavivirus molecular biology with Dr Jim Strauss (Caltech, USA). Upon return to the Netherlands he worked on RSV vaccine immunology, focusing on the mechanisms of vaccine-enhanced disease. In 2004, he joined Dr Bruce Robinson's team at the University of Western Australia to study immune oncology and the immune-modifying effects of chemotherapy. In 2008, he joined GSK Vaccines in Belgium, in roles of increasing responsiblility, leadingTranslational Science, After a brief period at CEPl, he joined BioNTech as Vice-President Translational Science in 2022, leading a team of experts in the infectious disease portfolio, in 2024 he started his own consultancy business, aiming to provide scjentific and development advice to biotech and pharma companies, as well as not-for-profit organizations.

Dr. Linfa Wang is a professor of the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School, and the inaugural executive director of PREPARE, Ministry of Health, Singapore. He is an international leader in the field of emerging zoonotic viruses and virus-host interaction. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he has served and is serving on multiple WHO committees for COVID-19, including the WHO IHR Emergency Committee. Prof. Wang has more than 500 scientific publications. He was the Editor-in-Chief for the Virology Journal from 2112-2022. Prof. Wang was elected to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2010, the American Academy of Microbiology in 2021 and the Australian Academy of Sciences in 2023. He received the Singapore President Science Award in 2021

Dr Norbert Pardi holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and genetics. He has been working at the University of Pennsylvania since 2011 and currently holds an Assistant Professor position at the Department of Microbiology of the Perelman School of Medicine. His research interest is the development of mRNA-based therapeutics with particular focus on new generation infectious disease vaccines. He explored the development of a novel vaccine platform using nucleoside-modified mRNA in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and used it to generate highly effective vaccines targeting various pathogens (influenza virus, coronaviruses, malaria and others). Dr. Pardi is a pioneer of the nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine technology and published milestone papers in the field.

英博博士于2019年创立艾博生物，为公司创始人、董事长兼首席执行官。创立至今，艾博生物已建立起具有自主知识产权的mRNA和纳米递送技术平台，推动mRNA科学技术应用赋能创新医疗产品开发。

英博博士拥有国际化的行业视野和丰富的核酸药物开发领域工业界经验，精通RNA药物设计和纳米制剂产业化。创立艾博生物前，他曾在多家全球领先的核酸药物研发机构任核心研发团队负责人，领导开展包括小核酸（siRNA）、mRNA及基因编辑产品的开发及大规模工业化生产等工作。

英博博士本科、硕士毕业于复旦大学，并在美国东北大学获得药剂学博士学位。英博博士曾在Cell、Lancet等多个重要国际期刊发表论文，他也是多项海外授权专利发明人。2018-2019年期间，英博博士任波士顿美中生物医药协会（Chinese-American BioMedical Association）会长，服务生物医药科研和工业技术的深度融合。

Dr. Chen has been a Professor at the State Key Lab of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Medical University since 2013. Dr. Chen received a medical degree from Shanghai Medical College in 1984. He obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Chen completed his postdoctoral training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School.  From 1997-2001, Dr. Chen served as a Senior Research Fellow at Merck Research Laboratories, where he was the first inventor of Merck's Ad5-based AIDS vaccine that entered clinical trials worldwide. Dr. Chen served as Vice President of R&D for GlaxoSmithKline in 2009-2011 and as Vice President at Sanofi Pasteur in 2012. Dr. Chen has over 200 publications in infectious diseases, vaccine research, and cancer research. His current research is focused on vaccine and antibody research on adenovirus, influenza virus, and emerging viruses. Since 2020, Dr. Chen has been working on developing user-friendly intranasal vaccines and mucosal immunity.

George Simeon is the CEO of Curevo Vaccine. He joined Curevo at the beginning of 2019 and has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare sector working with multinational firms, start-ups, and not-for-profits. He has worked in biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, IVD, and healthcare convergence technologies. He has worked extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Before moving to the USA, he was based in South Korea from 2014-2018, where he worked for SK Telecom’s Healthcare Division in M&A and global strategic alliances. In 2016, he joined Sollers Partners, a cross-border investment advisory firm, while maintaining an advisory role with SK Telecom.

He has worked across Europe and the USA as an executive with Johnson & Johnson, as the founding Vice-President of Cordis Neurovascular Europe, and with GHX Europe as a Commercial Vice-President. He also spent 3 years with Novartis Global Headquarters in Switzerland working on projects in their CNS portfolio in Health Economics and Pricing.

George has also founded two start-ups and advised GS1 on their global entry and expansion into the Healthcare, High-Tech, and Customs sectors as well as on ESG practices in FMCG logistics.

George is a graduate of INSEAD (MBA) and Yale University (MPH).

Arnaud Didierlaurent is an engineer in Biotechnology by training and an immunologist with a PhD in cellular immunology from the University of Lausanne in 2003 (Jean-Pierre Kraehenbuhl). Arnaud continued his work on innate immunity in the lab of Jürg Tschopp before joining the Imperial College, London, where he worked as postdoctoral fellow from 2004 to 2007 on the long-term impact of viral infection on the lungs. He was also a research fellow in Ralph Steinman's lab at the Rockefeller University in New York. Arnaud then joined the R&D department of GlaxoSmithKline in 2008 in Belgium, where he held several leading positions in vaccine research and development. Initially head of a lab investigating the mode of action of adjuvant, Arnaud became in charge of the GSK Adjuvant System portfolio and thus directly involved in the licensure of several adjuvanted vaccines.

Arnaud’s scientific contributions have consequently been focused on deciphering the interplay between innate immunity and pathogen/vaccine-specific adaptive response. With his experience in both academic and industrial settings, Arnaud has acquired a deep understanding of how vaccines are created, developed and deployed. He joined the University of Geneva in March 2020 to continue his work on translational vaccine research. He is acting as the chairman of the WHO Technical Advisory Group who provides recommendations for the Emergency Use listing of COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Since February 2023, he is an associate professor and the director of the Center of Vaccinology at the Faculty of medicine. 

I have been researching tuberculosis pathogenesis for 30 years. I graduated from Medical School in 1987 and had an Internship at Chungnam National University Hospital for 1 year, and then went back to Medical School for basic medical research. My first research project was about the purification and immunological characterization of antigen 85B, which is a major immune-reactive protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Since then, I have studied the immune response against several purified mycobacterial proteins in humans and animals, and the valuable proteins have been applied to diagnostic and vaccine development. In particular, I have identified several macrophage- or dendritic cell-activating proteins that can induce activation of T cells with bactericidal activity from the multidimensional fraction of Mtb culture filtrate proteins and tested the vaccine potential of these proteins and their fusion proteins in vitro and in vivo. Several vaccine candidates have been patented and some have been technology transferred. In 2021, I founded a startup (Myco-Rapha Inc.) focused on developing preventive and therapeutic TB vaccines with the potential to transform TB control worldwide. I feel well prepared to make our lab a major force in the world of TB vaccines.

Yasuo Yoshioka， PhD

Group Leader，The Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University

Education;              

1995-1999; Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University (Awarded the degree of B.S.).

1999-2001; Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University (Awarded the degree of M.S.).

2001-2004; Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University (2004; Awarded the degree of Ph.D. from Osaka University)

Brief chronology of employment;

2004-2006; Research Scientist, National Institute of Health Sciences (Tokyo, Japan)

2006-2012; Specially Appointed Associate Professor, The Center for Advanced Medical Engineering and Informatics, Osaka University (Osaka, Japan)

2012-2014; Associate Professor, Laboratory of Toxicology and Safety Science, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University (Osaka, Japan)

2015-2020; Specially Appointed Associate Professor, Vaccine Creation Project, BIKEN Innovative Vaccine Research Alliance Laboratories, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University (Osaka, Japan)

2020-2024; Specially Appointed Professor, Vaccine Creation Project, BIKEN Innovative Vaccine Research Alliance Laboratories, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University (Osaka, Japan)

2015-Present: Group leader, The Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University (Osaka, Japan)

Yoshimasa Takahashi, PhD, graduated from University of Tokyo. He received his postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, where he worked on understanding the basic mechanisms for humoral immune memory and antibody responses. He joined the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) in Japan, and became Director at the Department of Immunology. He was appointed to Director of the Research Center for Drug and Vaccine Development, NIID in 2021. He also holds the position of Guest Professor at seven universities. In this role, he trains graduate students in Immunology and Vaccinology.

Dr. Takahashi's research focuses on comprehending lymphocyte biology to unravel the humoral and cellular immune responses that underly vaccine effectiveness. By implementing high-throughput approach for human antibody analysis and isolation, he has identified novel classes of broadly protective antibodies against influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and other viruses. Multiple R & D for next-generation of vaccines and antibody therapeutics are on-going based on these findings.

Dr Jack Tan is a Principal Investigator at the MRC Translational Immune Discovery Unit. His research group focuses developing next-generation protein nanoparticle-based vaccines and antibody therapeutics against infectious diseases. He is particularly interested in understanding how the architecture of protein nanoparticle vaccines influences their immunogenicity, as well as investigating mucosal vaccine immunity to improve vaccine design against respiratory pathogens such as coronavirus. Jack is part of an international consortium (Oxford-Caltech-CPI-Ingenza) funded by the Coalition of Epidemics Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop novel a pan-sarbecovirus (SARS like betacoronavirus) nanoparticle vaccine. He is also a Career Development Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences-Oxford Institute.

Amine Kamen is Professor of Bioengineering at McGill University, and Canada Research Chair in Bioprocessing of Viral Vaccines. He is Researcher Emeritus of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) where he was employed until early 2014, as head of the Process Development section of the Human Health Therapeutics Portfolio. At NRC, he established one of the North America largest and most advanced governmental centers for animal cell culture addressing process development and scale up of biologics. Also, he developed with his team and licensed to industry multiple technology platforms for efficient manufacturing of recombinant proteins and viral vectors and vaccines and led technology transfer to manufacturing sites for clinical evaluation and commercialization. His current research activities focus on uncovering mechanisms associated with cell production of viral vectors and viral vaccines; cell and metabolic engineering; process control and monitoring; and process analytical technologies and digitalization of intensified productions of viral vectors for gene delivery and vaccination. He published close to two hundred papers in refereed international journals and acts as experts on scientific advisory committees for several national and international private and public organizations in the Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences sector.

Dr. Ella is the Chief Development Officer at Bharat Biotech. He leads Bharat’s Global Product Development division, which is focused on discovery and clinical development for vaccines and therapeutics. Raches also oversees medical, safety, and regulatory support for the entire pipeline, as well as external science and innovation. He is a physician by training, with an M.S. in clinical research from Emory University. Following his postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins, he completed his MBA at Harvard Business School.

Current Leadership Roles

• Chief Development Officer, Bharat Biotech (BBIL) – heads global product development, medical & regulatory affairs.

• Managing Director, Sapigen Biologix – building the world’s first vaccine-dedicated CDMO (700 mn doses/yr).

• Director, Biovet – directs India’s largest veterinary-vaccine producer (FMD & LSD; 400 mn doses/yr).

• Strategic Steward, Skegen Asset Management – $250 Mn AUM, single LP Asset Management Company

Pandemic Breakthroughs

• Project lead for COVAXIN™ (inactivated) & iNCOVACC™ (intranasal) – delivered concept-to-EUA in 9 months; now licensed in 70+ countries.

Global Partnerships & One-Health Vision

 • Forged alliances with NIH (Rotavirus), GSK (malaria & shigella), Univ. Washington (intranasal COVID) & Biofabri (TB), aligning human-animal pipelines to cut zoonotic risk.

Education & Credentials

• MBA – Harvard Business School; Post-doc – Johns Hopkins; M.S. Clinical Research – Emory; MBBS – Sri Ramachandra Med. College.

Professor Adrian V. S. Hill FRS is the Director and Founder of the Jenner Institute, and Mital Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford University. He is a passionate believer in the power of molecular medicine to address many of the most egregious health care inequities globally. His group have been leaders in the development of adenoviral and other vaccines against infectious diseases and he has tested these in extensively in over eighty clinical trials in Africa and Europe. In partnership with the Serum Institute of India and AstraZeneca the Jenner Institute developed rapidly a ChAdOx1 vector-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine which saved an estimated 6.2 million lives in 2021 alone.

His lab also designed a newly licensed high efficacy malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-MTM, which has recently shown unprecedented high efficacy in a phase III trial in four African countries, again in partnership with the Serum Institute of India and also Novavax Inc. This vaccine promises to make a major impact on reducing the 500,000 childhood deaths from malaria each year. In 2021 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and is a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).

Dr. Siber is an infectious disease trained physician with more than 40 years of experience in developing vaccines and antibody products. From 1996 to 2007, Dr. Siber served as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Wyeth Vaccines (now Pfizer) where he led the development and approval of multiple innovative childhood vaccines, including Prevenar 7 and 13, the first pneumococcal conjugate vaccines,  Rotashield, the first rotavirus diarrhea vaccine, Meningitec, the first meningococcal meningitis conjugate vaccine and FluMist, the first nasal influenza vaccine. Prior to Wyeth, Dr. Siber was Harvard Medical School Associate Professor of Medicine at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Director of the Massachusetts Public Health Biologic Laboratories where he developed multiple vaccines and immune globulins, including Respigam, the first antibody licensed for respiratory syncytial virus. Dr. Siber most recently was a Co-founder and Board Member of Affinivax which developed a 24 valent pneumococcal vaccine and was acquired by GSK in 2022. Dr. Siber currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of AdVaccine, CanSino, Clover, Everest Medicines, ILiAD, Valneva, Vaxart and Vaxxinity and has been a consultant to the NIH, EU, WHO and the Gates Foundation. Dr.Siber was member of the Board of  Trustees of the International Vaccine Institute. Dr Siber has received multiple awards including the 2016 Albert Sabin Gold Medal in vaccinology. Dr. Siber holds an MD degree from McGill University in Canada, received post‑doctoral training in Internal Medicine at Rush‑Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago and Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and training in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

My research, funded by UK Medical Research Council fellowships (Career Development Award: 2019 – 2024; and Senior Fellowship: 2024 - 2029) and US National Institute of Health grants, focuses on next-generation vaccines against major bacterial pathogens. Using the chief causes of bacterial meningitis as exemplar, my lab is currently employing innovative use of Reverse Vaccinology 2.0, and bacterial and synthetic cell glycoengineering to the development of a next-generation, combined meningococcal-pneumococcal glycoconjugate vaccine. Efforts in my lab are also geared towards understanding the human adaptive immunity to, and prevention of disease due to, AMR pathogens of concern, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Professor Kaissar Tabynov, PhD, is a leading vaccine scientist with over 20 years of experience in the development and implementation of vaccines for both human and veterinary use. He has led the creation of three influenza vaccines for healthcare -Refluvac (H1N1), Kazfluvac (H5N1), and Kazfluvir (seasonal flu) - and seven veterinary vaccines, including against avian influenza (H5, H7), equine influenza, and brucellosis. Refluvac and Kazfluvac were the first registered vaccines in Kazakhstan's modern history. Kazfluvir completed Phase I–III clinical trials involving 2,344 volunteers and was deemed safe and immunogenic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led the development of two innovative platforms: NARUVAX-C19, an intramuscular nanoemulsion-based subunit vaccine, and NARUVAX-C19/Nano, an intranasal chitosan nanoparticle vaccine. Both demonstrated high immunogenicity and passed rigorous preclinical safety testing.

Professor Tabynov also spearheads the development of PollenVax, a recombinant allergy vaccine targeting Artemisia pollen-induced rhinitis and asthma. This novel approach offers a promising alternative to traditional allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT), with enhanced efficacy and convenience. His work has laid a strong foundation for Kazakhstan’s vaccine technology landscape.

Professor Cheol-Heui YUN grew up in Gwang-ju, a southwest region of Republic of Korea. He was educated at the Chonnam National University for B. Sc. and the Seoul National University for his M. Sc. in Animal Nutrition. He obtained his Ph. D. at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada in the area of immune modulation and mucosal immunology. Then, he pursued his professional career at leading research institutes in different region of the world including International Vaccine Institute (IVI, Korea), USDA and NIH (MD, USA) and Gothenburg University (Sweden) where he undertook research related to stress, vaccine/adjuvant, infection and host protective immunity.

He published over 290 SCIE papers to date and has been the recipient of prestigious awards, including Cargill-KAST (Korean Academy of Science and Technology) Bioscience Award (2023), Seoul National University Excellence in Teaching Award (2018), Distinguished teaching award by Kukdam Foundation (2010), and official commendation for from the cabinet minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology (2007, 2022). For scientific researches, Prof. Yun and his team have focused on the action mechanism of protective immune responses against various biological stresses including infection, mucosal immunity, vaccine/adjuvant, systems serology and nutritional immunology and immunometabolism. Currently, he is a member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST) since 2023.

Dr. Madden obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of London, U.K. He has held several senior academic and industry positions. Dr. Madden founded Acuitas Therapeutics in 2009 and guided the company to a leadership position in the application of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology for delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics. Acuitas developed the LNP carrier used by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals for Onpattro™, the first approved RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic and Acuitas LNP delivery technology is used in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, COMIRNATY®. More recently Acuitas in partnership with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania supported development of the first patient-specific base editor therapeutics used to successfully treat an infant with a life-threatening genetic disorder (Baby KJ). Dr. Madden has over 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals including publications in Nature. In 2020 Dr. Madden was made a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and in 2022 was a recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Innovation.

Luciana C.C. Leite, is Senior Researcher at the Vaccine Development Laboratory, Butantan Institute. She works in Vaccine Development, mainly using recombinant BCG technology and has participated in several of the Brazilian genomic projects with over 150 papers published and several patents. The first product developed, a recombinant BCG strain for improved bladder cancer treatment has the Phase I clinical trial planned for early 2026.  She is currently moving forward with the development of a new recombinant BCG strain as an improved vaccine against tuberculosis for both humans and bovines. She has been director of the Biotechnology Center and of the Vaccine Development Laboratory, vice president of the Butantan Foundation, and member of the Steering Committee of the Vaccine Manufacturing Network in Developing Countries (DCVMN) and of the National Technical Commission on Biosafety (CTNBio). She is currently member of the Academic Management Board of the Erasmus Mundus's Leading International Vaccinology Education (LIVE) and of the Brazilian TB Network and has been recently nominated member of Scientific Advisory Committee of the Coalition for Pandemic Preparedness and Innovation (CEPI).

Professor of Experimental Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute of Imperial College London. A respiratory physician and mucosal immunologist, he works on how the immune response both protects against viral infection but also causes disease.

He has published over 400 papers on vaccinology, the immunopathogenesis of pulmonary viral diseases and lung inflammation and has received prizes for his lifetime contribution to RSV research (Chanock Award, 2012), the EFIS Ehrlich/Metchnikoff Medal (2014) and the Per Brandtzaeg Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award in Mucosal Immunology (2024).

He was the first clinical President of the British Society for Immunology (2013-18), former President of the International RSV Society (2017-2025) and is a Council Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences (Chair of Governance Committee). He is a Trustee of the Science Media Centre, of the European Scientific Working group on Influenza (ESWI), of the International Society for Respiratory Viruses (ISRV) and Director of the HIC-Vac consortium (promoting human experimental challenge to accelerate vaccinology).

He advised the UK government on pandemics (SAGE, 2009-12; Chair/Vice-Chair of NERVTAG, 2015-2022). He has served on scientific advisory boards for GSK, Sanofi, Seqirus, AstraZeneca, BioNet (Asia), Pfizer, Moderna and Shionogi. He was made a Commander of the British Empire for services to Medicine and Immunology in 2022 and awarded the Imperial College Medal 2024. In June 2025, he was appointed to Main Panel A of the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF2029), Chairing Subpanel 1 (Clinical Medicine).

Prof Xu qualified in Medicine from Capital Medical University (Beijing) and obtained a PhD in Clinical Immunology from Flinders Medical Centre (Australia) and became the fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (FRCPA) in 1999. He then joined the group of Prof Sir Andrew J. McMichael as a NHMRC research fellow at Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford.

In the past, Xiao-Ning served as Medical Research Council (MRC) Senior Clinical Scientist, project leader, and programme leader at MRC Human Immunology Unit (1995-2010), Oxford University, where he led research projects involving immune correlates of protection against emerging infectious diseases including HIV, SARS, and avian influenza. In 2010, he joined Novartis as the Head of Novartis Vaccines Research China, Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics based in Shanghai, and in 2013, he became the Chair professor in Human Immunology at the Imperial College London based at South Kensington Campus.

司龙龙博士，中国科学院深圳先进技术研究院合成生物学研究所研究员、博士生导师，定量合成生物学全国重点实验室副主任，国家高层次人才（青年），国家重点研发计划首席科学家。博士毕业于北京大学，在哈佛大学Wyss研究所、哈佛医学院完成博士后研究工作。实验室研究方向包括合成生物学驱动的疫苗技术、人类器官芯片、抗病毒药物。发表论文约50篇，其中代表性研究成果以通讯作者、第一作者（含共同一作）发表于Science、 Nature Biotechnology、Nature Microbiology、Nature Biomedical Engineering、Nature Chemical Biology、Science Advances、Nature Communications等专业期刊，申请和授权专利20余项。

Dr. Lei Chen, Chairman and CEO at Yikang Biotech (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Osaka University. With substantial tenure at the Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, he has established expertise in structure-based development of innovative vaccines. His remarkable contributions encompass critical patents on prefusion RSV F proteins and seminal publications in Science and Cell regarding structural design of fusion glycoprotein immunogens. He has driven notable advancements in viral antigen research and immunogen design.

Dr. Maggie Wang is the founder and director of Beth Bioinformatics, a company based in Hong Kong. She is also an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Her research focuses on unveiling mutation patterns in viral and human genome through the development of cutting-edge biotechnology methods. Her major contribution including developing the first-of-the-kind approach to predict vaccine effectiveness through genome analysis (Nature Medicine 2022) that is adopted by national FDA to approve new vaccine product, accurate forecasting of influenza virus evolution (Nature Communications 2024), and prediction for human phenotypes in multiple-population data (PLoS Genetics 2022), among others. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Human Genetics (Springer Nature), and is a recipient of Excellent Young Scientists Fund awarded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. At BethBio, she leads a passionate team to translate their world-leading biotechnologies to facilitate vaccine antigen design and therapeutics developments at international pharmaceutical industry partners.   

Michel De Wilde holds a PhD in Biochemistry and has a long and successful career in Vaccine Research and Development. He currently consults for the vaccine community and is member of several Scientific Advisory Boards

From  2001 till June 2013, Michel De Wilde was Senior Vice President, Research & Development, at sanofi pasteur where he drove the development and licensure  of a number of products.

From 1978 till 2000, De Wilde was at SmithKline Beecham Biologicals (now GSK Vaccines) where he held positions of increasing responsibility. He played a key role in the development of several new vaccines, most notably the recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine, as well as GSK’s Malaria vaccine.

Sean Semple is the VP, Preclinical Research at Acuitas. As the inventor and pioneer of the ionizable lipid approach to formulate and enable nucleic acids in lipid nanoparticles, Sean has led numerous first-in-class oligonucleotide-LNP and siRNA-LNP nonclinical programs into clinical development, and recently collaborated on k-abe, the first LNP-enabled personalized CRISPR gene editing therapy. He contributed to the nonclincial development of COMIRNATY® (Pfizer-BioNTech), the first approved mRNA vaccine, which has been deployed globally, ONPATTRO® (Alnylam), the first approved RNAi therapeutic, and is actively engaged with Acuitas partners in several vaccine clinical trials.

Sean Semple is the VP, Preclinical Research at Acuitas. As the inventor and pioneer of the ionizable lipid approach to formulate and enable nucleic acids in lipid nanoparticles, Sean has led numerous first-in-class oligonucleotide-LNP and siRNA-LNP nonclinical programs into clinical development, and recently collaborated on k-abe, the first LNP-enabled personalized CRISPR gene editing therapy. He contributed to the nonclincial development of COMIRNATY® (Pfizer-BioNTech), the first approved mRNA vaccine, which has been deployed globally, ONPATTRO® (Alnylam), the first approved RNAi therapeutic, and is actively engaged with Acuitas partners in several vaccine clinical trials.

Rino Rappuoli is Scientific Director of the Biotecnopolo di Siena Foundation, Italy.  He is also Honorary Professor of Vaccinology at Imperial College, London, and Senior Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Siena. Prior positions held: Head R&D and Chief Scientist at GSK Vaccines, head of Vaccine R&D at Novartis, CSO at Chiron Corporation, head R&D at Sclavo.

He earned his PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Siena, Italy, and was visiting scientist at Rockefeller University and Harvard Medical School.

He is elected member of US National Academy of Sciences (NAS), American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Royal Society of London, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Awards received: Gold Medal by the Italian President, Albert B Sabin Gold Medal, Canada Gairdner International Award, European Inventor Award for Lifetime Achievement, Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, Robert Koch Award. He is President of the International Union of Microbiological Societies. He was voted the world's third-most influential person in the field of vaccines at the Terrapinn World Vaccine Congress in 2013. Currently, he is ranked second most important person worldwide in the specialty of vaccines by ScholarGPS.   He has published 826 works in peer-reviewed journals and an H-index of 165.

He introduced novel scientific concepts: genetic detoxification; cellular microbiology; reverse vaccinology; pangenome. Developed licensed vaccines: acellular pertussis containing a non-toxic mutant of pertussis toxin; first conjugate vaccine against meningococcus C; conjugate vaccines against meningococcus ACYW, MF59-adjuvanted seasonal and pandemic influenza. MF59 was the first vaccine adjuvant approved for human use after the aluminum salts; meningococcus B by reverse vaccinology; cell culture-based influenza vaccine, respiratory syncytial virus, CRM 197 as carrier of most conjugate vaccines.

Founder of the GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health (GVGH) Professor Rappuoli is among the world scientific leaders dedicated to the sustainability of global health.

Rino Rappuoli is Scientific Director of the Biotecnopolo di Siena Foundation, Italy.  He is also Honorary Professor of Vaccinology at Imperial College, London, and Senior Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Siena. Prior positions held: Head R&D and Chief Scientist at GSK Vaccines, head of Vaccine R&D at Novartis, CSO at Chiron Corporation, head R&D at Sclavo.

He earned his PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Siena, Italy, and was visiting scientist at Rockefeller University and Harvard Medical School.

He is elected member of US National Academy of Sciences (NAS), American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Royal Society of London, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Awards received: Gold Medal by the Italian President, Albert B Sabin Gold Medal, Canada Gairdner International Award, European Inventor Award for Lifetime Achievement, Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, Robert Koch Award. He is President of the International Union of Microbiological Societies. He was voted the world's third-most influential person in the field of vaccines at the Terrapinn World Vaccine Congress in 2013. Currently, he is ranked second most important person worldwide in the specialty of vaccines by ScholarGPS.   He has published 826 works in peer-reviewed journals and an H-index of 165.

He introduced novel scientific concepts: genetic detoxification; cellular microbiology; reverse vaccinology; pangenome. Developed licensed vaccines: acellular pertussis containing a non-toxic mutant of pertussis toxin; first conjugate vaccine against meningococcus C; conjugate vaccines against meningococcus ACYW, MF59-adjuvanted seasonal and pandemic influenza. MF59 was the first vaccine adjuvant approved for human use after the aluminum salts; meningococcus B by reverse vaccinology; cell culture-based influenza vaccine, respiratory syncytial virus, CRM 197 as carrier of most conjugate vaccines.

Founder of the GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health (GVGH) Professor Rappuoli is among the world scientific leaders dedicated to the sustainability of global health.

Dr. SeyedReza Banihashemi is the Head of Immunology Department and an Assistant Professor at Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute in Karaj, Iran. He holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Immunology from Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran.  With over 20 years of experience in vaccine research and development, Dr. Banihashemi designed and developed Razi Cov-Pars, Iran's domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine. Under his leadership, Razi Institute successfully conducted Phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials of Razi Cov-Pars.this vaccine is first intranasal covid 19 vaccine in the world.

His research focuses on mucosal Immunity , intranasal vaccine , adjuvants, drug delivery systems, immune regulation and the development of bacterial and viral vaccines. He has published over 50 papers and authored book chapters in his field. His work on nanobody technology and immunoliposomes has applications for targeted drug delivery.

In addition to conducting research, Dr. Banihashemi teaches courses in infection and immunity. He has received several awards for his scientific contributions, including for exemplary research from Razi Institute. 

When not engaged in his own work, Dr. Banihashemi reviews papers for international journals. 

Dr. Dan Barouch received his Ph.D. in immunology from Oxford University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He is currently the William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, and part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery.  His laboratory focuses on studying the immunology and pathogenesis of viral infections and developing novel vaccine and treatment strategies.  His group has led the development of vaccine candidates for multiple pathogens of global significance, including HIV, Zika virus, tuberculosis, and most recently SARS-CoV-2.  His work contributed to the development of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and the evaluation of multiple COVID-19 vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapeutics.  He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020 and received the King Faisal Prize in Medicine in 2023.

John Tsang is a systems immunologist, computational biologist, and engineer. He is the Anthony N. Brady Professor of Immunobiology and Biomedical Engineering at Yale University, the Founding Director of the Yale Center for Systems and Engineering Immunology (CSEI), the Yale Lead and an Investigator at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub New York, and the co-Chief Scientific Officer of the Human Immunome Project (a non-profit dedicated to mapping human immune variation around the globe to develop AI models of human immune health for the benefit of all). Tsang has pioneered and established the concepts and predictive metrics of human immune setpoints and immune health including responses to vaccines, infections, autoimmunity, and therapeutics in human populations spanning the lifespan from infancy to old age. Tsang is also interested in programming immune cells to facilitate longitudinal immune and health monitoring of the entire body. Tsang has received numerous awards for his research and leadership in systems immunology, COVID-19, and human immunology. He has advised numerous programs and organizations, including the Allen Institute, the Gates Foundation, CEPI, World Allergy Organization, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Snow Medical (Australia), and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (Australia). Tsang earned his Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University and trained in computer engineering (BASc) and computer science (MMath) at the University of Waterloo, Canada.

Dr. Alameh is an Assistant Professor at Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania and the Children Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and the co-director of the Engineered mRNA and Targeted Nanomedicine Core at the Penn RNA Institute for RNA Innovation.

Dr. Alameh obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2017 from Polytechnique Montreal under the supervision of Dr. Michael D. Buschmann and joined the laboratory of the now Nobel laureate Dr. Drew Weissman. Dr. Alameh explored the development of a novel lipid nanoparticle (LNPs) based adjuvant platform and developed potent mRNA-based vaccines against various pathogens including Clostridium difficile.

His research program lies at the interface of nanotechnology, material science, engineering, and medicine to develop prophylactic and therapeutic nucleic acid-based delivery platforms and optimize their manufacturing. His team studies, and model Structure-Activity Relationships of material for improved delivery systems, and nucleic acid-based vaccines. 

Doctor Hu is the founder, chairman and full-time CEO of Anda Biology. She was a former researcher of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, visiting scholar of the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics in Germany, and visiting scholar of the Cambridge Molecular Biology Laboratory in the UK. She independently undertook key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and 863 projects as the project leader, participated in the Super 973 projects, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Leading Special Research on Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, and the National Twelfth Five Year Plan Major Special Projects. Expert in the Second Review of Outstanding Youth Fund, Outstanding Youth Fund, and Key Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and expert in risk assessment of the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2013.

She has been engaged in molecular genetics research of diseases for a long time and has established a series of genetic analysis techniques that can be applied to stem cell clinical transformation research such as stem cell quality control, in vivo genetic tracing, stem cell maintenance, and cell phenotype transformation, laying the foundation for stem cell based disease diagnosis and treatment. Dr Hu has published more than 70 SCI papers and won the first prize for scientific and technological progress in Shanghai (second place completion).

She has participated as the leader of the innovation team in 2018 in the first Shenzhen Women's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. After winning the award, she founded Anda Biology Medicine Development (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd and she is serving as its full-time CEO. In the past four years, she has led the company's employees to develop personalized immunotherapy vaccine for pancreatic cancer, universal cancer vaccines, cell therapy and other products. Among which, PCNAT-1, a therapeutic personalized vaccine for pancreatic cancer, has won the FDA orphan drug qualification certification.

Bali Pulendran, PhD

Violetta L. Horton Professor, and Director of the Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection,

Department of Pathology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Fellow at ChEM-H (Chemistry,

Engineering and Medicine for Human Health), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University.

Bali Pulendran is the Violetta L. Horton Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and

Director of the Institute for Immunology, Transplantation, and Infection, at Stanford University. He

received his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University, and his Ph.D., from the Walter & Eliza Hall

Institute in Melbourne, Australia, under the supervision of Sir Gustav Nossal. He then did his postdoctoral

work at Immunex Corporation in Seattle.

Dr. Pulendran has had a transformative impact on human immunology and vaccinology by pioneering the

use of systems approaches to probe immunity to vaccination and infection in humans. In addition, Dr.

Pulendran discovered that dendritic cells, one of the key cell types orchestrating the immune response,

consist of multiple subtypes, which are functionally distinct. He also discovered the mechanisms by which

microbial stimuli program DCs to modulate T-helper responses and helped establish Flt3-Ligand as the

key growth factor for DCs in vivo. These groundbreaking findings helped define major paradigms in innate

immunity.

Dr. Pulendran’s research is published in front line journals such as Nature, Science, Cell, Nature Medicine,

and Nature Immunology. Dr. Pulendran serves on many advisory boards including that of Keystone

Symposia and on the External Immunology Network of GSK. He is a fellow of the American Association for

the Advancement of Science and the recipient of several honors and awards, including two concurrent

MERIT awards from the NIH, the AAI Ralph Steinman Award for Human Immunology, the Albert Levy

Prize, the ViE Award for the Best Research Team at the World Vaccine Congress, and is listed

on Thomson Reuter’s list of Highly Cited Researchers, which recognizes the world's most influential

researchers of the past decade, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank

in the top 1% by citations.

Pär Comstedt has a PhD in molecular biology and 20 years experience form the vaccine industry. He is specialized in vaccine discovery, research and development. At Evaxion he is managing the infectious disease vaccine portfolio with projects targeting bacterial and viral pathogens. Before joining Evaxion, he was Manager for Infectious Disease Models at Valneva, as well as Research Project Leader for the company's Lyme disease vaccine program VLA15, from early discovery to start of clinical development. The VLA15 program partnered with Pfizer is being evaluated in phase 3 clinical trials.

Dr. Andrew M. Hebbeler, Ph.D. is a global leader in health security and biodefense, with more than two decades of experience advancing science, technology, and policy solutions to combat infectious disease threats. He is the inaugural Director of Biosecurity at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), where he developed CEPI’s first biosecurity strategy and oversees efforts to ensure robust funding oversight, strengthen partner capabilities, advance equity, reduce emerging and converging technology risks, and accelerate biosecurity innovation across CEPI’s multi-billion-dollar global vaccine portfolio.

From 2021 to 2023, Dr. Hebbeler served as Principal Assistant Director for Health and Life Sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he led U.S. government initiatives to accelerate pandemic preparedness, reduce risks of life sciences research, and strengthen global health security. He played a central role in shaping the American Pandemic Preparedness Plan, the U.S. National Biodefense Strategy, and U.S. support for the 100 Days Mission.

Previously, he was Senior Director and Lead Scientist for Global Biological Policy and Programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and earlier held senior roles at the U.S. Department of State and the White House OSTP, where he directed U.S. biosecurity and cooperative threat reduction programs. He began his public service leading the State Department’s Biosecurity Engagement Program, a $40M initiative to secure dangerous pathogens, mitigate dual-use risks, and strengthen public and animal health systems worldwide.

Dr. Hebbeler earned his B.A. in biology and philosophy from Thomas More University and his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He completed postdoctoral training at The J. David Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, where his research focused on immune responses to infectious diseases and cancer.

Andrew McMichael qualified in Medicine from the University of Cambridge in 1968 and studied for a PhD in Immunology at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research with Dr Ita Askonas, 1971-74.  After a fellowship with Dr Hugh McDevitt at Stanford University he returned to Oxford in 1977 where he has worked since.

In 1977, he first showed that human cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses to influenza virus were HLA restricted and in 1986, with Alain Townsend, showed that class I HLA molecules present peptides to CTL. Applying this to HIV-1 he identified the first epitopes seen by CTL in this infection. He went on to show that virus could escape from CTL by mutation, and later showed that this happens with all epitopes, undermining T cell control of the infection. In 1996, with Mark Davis and John Altman, he first introduced HLA tetramers into the study of T cell immun responses to human infections. Also, he and Cesar Milstein discovered CD1 and later, with Veronique Broad, he first identified the ligand for the NK cell receptor NKG2/CD94 as a specific peptide bound to HLA-E. Currently he is working with Louis Picker on the role of HLA-E restricted T cells in protection against SIV and HIV-1.

Andrew McMichael was founder director of the MRC Human Immunology Unit 1998-2010 and Director of the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine 2000-2012. He is currently Emeritus Professor in the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Academy of Medical Sciences, is an EMBO member and is an International Member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was knighted for services to medical science in 2008. He was awarded the VCANBio  International Cooperation Award in 2017.

曹云龙，北京大学生物医学前沿创新中心（BIOPIC）研究员、助理教授，北大-清华生命科学联合中心研究员，北京昌平实验室领衔科学家，国家优秀青年科学基金获得者。2014年毕业于浙江大学竺可桢学院物理学专业，2019年获得哈佛大学化学博士学位。在新冠疫情期间，他围绕新冠病毒B细胞免疫应答、特异性抗体的结构与功能等开展了系统性研究，其中新冠中和抗体药物研制、新冠体液免疫响应特征和新冠突变免疫逃逸机制的创新性研究结果为抗击疫情做出了突出贡献。以第一作者、通讯作者在Nature、Cell、The Lancet Infectious Diseases、Cell Host & Microbe等期刊上发表多篇相关研究文章。相关研究成果获评2022年度“中国科学十大进展”、2022年度“中国生命科学十大进展”。其本人受邀作为WHO新冠疫苗成分技术咨询小组（TAG-CO-VAC）成员、国际流行病防范创新联盟（CEPI）科学顾问，获评2022年度北京市杰出青年中关村奖、《麻省理工科技评论》中国区“35岁以下科技创新35人”、2022年度Nature十大人物，获得国家优秀青年科学基金资助。

Jingxin Li, PhD, Professor, is working at Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Her research is focused on vaccine clinical evaluation and immunization strategy. She has participated in a lot of epidemiology investigations and a series of clinical trials of novel vaccines, including Enterovirus type 71 vaccine, recombinant human Ad5 vectored Ebola vaccine, and Covid-19 vaccines. She has got National Natural Science Outstanding Youth Founds and Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Funds for Distinguished youths, and hosted or participated in seven National Natural Science Founds or National Science and Technology Major Projects. She has published over 25 articles in medical journals on vaccine clinical studies, including Nature Med, Lancet Respir Med, Lancet Glob Health, etc.

Dr. Tao Zhu, Ph.D. the University of Pittsburgh

Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of CanSino Biologics Inc. 

Dr. Zhu is a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the “Healthy China Construction” professional committee of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party. 

Dr. Zhu focuses on the research and development of biological products. He established multiple core technology platforms, including viral vector, polysaccharide protein conjugate vaccine, VLP recombinant vaccine and mRNA vaccine technology at CanSino. Multiple projects led by him have been selected as national “Major Science and Technology Projects for New Drug Creation” and “Major Science and Technology Projects for Infectious Diseases”. 

Dr. Zhu has led the team to develop a series of vaccine products, of which 6 vaccine products have been registered and marketed, another 7 vaccine products are in different stages of clinical studies. He co-developed the adenovirus vector-based Ebola virus vaccine (2018), the Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Convidecia, 2021), the Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine for Inhalation(Convidecia Air, 2022), and the Recombinant COVID-19 XBB Vaccine for Inhalation(2023), with the team of Academician Chen Wei of the Institute of Bioengineering, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, all of which have been marketed. Especially, Convidecia Air is the first developed inhalation vaccine product in the global. Menhycia, which was approved in 2021, is currently the only quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine on the market in China. Dr. Zhu also holds over 50 patents and 70 publications, including 15 papers from The Lancet publishers.

Dr. David Weiner directs a translational research laboratory at The Wistar Institute in the area of Molecular Immunology. His group is one of the pioneering research teams in establishing the field of DNA vaccines and immunotherapies. Important reports from his lab include the first DNA vaccine studied for HIV as well as for cancer immunotherapy, the early development of DNA encoded genetic adjuvants including the particularly relevant IL-12, advances in gene optimization, and advances in electroporation (EP) technologies resulting in improved gene delivery among others. His group worked with collaborators to become the first to move DNA technology into human study. His laboratory’s work helped revitalize the field through advancement of new synthetic DNA design and modification of EP delivery approaches resulting in potent immune induction as well as the first successful Phase IIb DNA efficacy study (for HPV immunotherapy) in humans. Dr. Weiner is the recipient of numerous honors including election as a fellow to both the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011 and the International Society for Vaccines in 2012. He is the recipient of the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award and received the Vaccine Industry Excellence Award for Best Academic Research Team in 2015 at the World Vaccine Congress. Weiner was honored with the prestigious Hilleman Lectureship in 2015 at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Grand Rounds session and received a Stone Family Award from Abramson Cancer Center for his groundbreaking work on DNA vaccines for cancer immunotherapy. In 2019, Dr. Weiner was honored with the Scientific Achievement Award from Life Sciences PA (LSPA). Dr. Weiner returned to Wistar in 2016 from his position at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. From 1990 to 1993, Weiner held a joint position as assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at The Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Weiner is a co-founder of Inovio Pharmaceuticals and is a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Weiner graduated with a B.S. in biology from SUNY at Stony Brook, N.Y., a M.S. in biology from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. in developmental biology from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Ruben Rizzi, physician by training, SVP of Global Regulatory Affairs at BioNTech. I joined the company in December 2019 just before the pandemic, and I have been the global regulatory lead for BioNTech for our COVID-19 development. Currently, I am still supporting the lifecycle of our COVID-19 vaccine, and I am co-leading the Global Regulatory Affairs department at BioNTech and working closely with the teams that are responsible for the development of BioNTech´s pipeline, post-approval activities and labelling

Xia JIN，MD, PhD is currently an executive director and Chief Executive Officer of Immuno Cure BioTech Ltd., Hong Kong. He has hold a number of academic positions previously, including Professor of Fudan University Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, and its Director of Vaccine & Immunology Center; Distinguished Professor of the Chinese Academy of Science(CAS), and Deputy Director of Vaccine Research Center of the Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, and Deputy Director of CAS Molecular Virology & Immunology Key Lab. Before returning China, he has been a tenure-track Associate Professor of University of Rochester. His research focuses on the immune pathogenesis of human infectious diseases such as HIV and Dengue, and pre-clinical and clinical development of vaccines against these and other human pathogens.  He has published in 140 papers in peer-reviewed journals such as Science，J. Exp. Med.，J. Clin. Inv.，Nat. Commn., J Virol., Vaccine etc..

Dexiang Chen, Doctor of Immunology, Mississippi State University, has been engaged in the development of vaccines and vaccine adjuvants in Pfizer, Novartis and PATH scientific and technological organizations for more than 30 years, and has presided over a number of major international public health special projects funded by international organizations, foundations and national governments. Among the more than 20 infectious disease vaccine development projects presided over and participated in, many products have been listed globally. Dr. Chen Dexiang has published more than 60 vaccine-related academic papers in world-class academic journals such as Science and Nature Medicine.

I have been researching tuberculosis pathogenesis for 30 years. I graduated from Medical School in 1987 and had an Internship at Chungnam National University Hospital for 1 year, and then went back to Medical School for basic medical research. My first research project was about the purification and immunological characterization of antigen 85B, which is a major immune-reactive protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Since then, I have studied the immune response against several purified mycobacterial proteins in humans and animals, and the valuable proteins have been applied to diagnostic and vaccine development. In particular, I have identified several macrophage- or dendritic cell-activating proteins that can induce activation of T cells with bactericidal activity from the multidimensional fraction of Mtb culture filtrate proteins and tested the vaccine potential of these proteins and their fusion proteins in vitro and in vivo. Several vaccine candidates have been patented and some have been technology transferred. In 2021, I founded a startup (Myco-Rapha Inc.) focused on developing preventive and therapeutic TB vaccines with the potential to transform TB control worldwide. I feel well prepared to make our lab a major force in the world of TB vaccines.

Dr. Alejandra Capozzo has an MD in Biology from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina. She is a Doctor in Biotechnolgy also from the UBA. Her PhD thesis focused on alternative vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease directed by Dr José La Torre. She did postdoctoral studies in neonatal applied immunology at the Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) at University of Maryland (Baltimore, USA), where she worked on the development of new vaccines for neonates in the presence of maternal immunity. She has intensified her training in immunology at the National Academy of Medicine in Buenos Aires, focused on vaccines against Uremic hemolytic syndrome and animal models. Dr Capozzo worked as Market Development Manager for Latin America at Prionics (a Swiss company); and as leader of research and development in Biogenesis-Bagó, an international veterinary vaccine producer. She is also trained in sales management.

From 2008 to 2023 she was the head of the applied veterinary immunology laboratory at the Institute of Virology and Technological Innovations, a CONICET-INTA. She is currently Principal Researcher of the Argentinean national research council (CONICET), the CEO of the Global Foot and Mouth Disease Research Alliance (GFRA), President of the Argentine Association of Veterinary Immunology, coordinator of the Latin American Veterinary Immunology Network, and the Chair of the Veterinary Immunology Committee of the International Union of Immunological societies (VIC-IUIS). Dr Capozzo participates in several transboundary disease groups in FAO-WOAH, as the co-chair of the Global Coordination Committee on Foot and Mouth Disease (GCC-FMD) and as a member of the Partnership and Financial panel (PFP).

Dr Capozzo has been a professor of immunology at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires for many years and directed 14 PhD theses. She is the Responsible Researcher of numerous national and international projects and has developed several products related to applied immunology that were transferred to Argentine and international companies. She is currently the Director of a Center focused on One health, located at the Interamerican University in Buenos Aires, since February 2024.

Dr. Haitao Hu is a Professor at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prior to joining the Institute, Dr. Hu was a tenured associate professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Department of Microbiology and Immunology, where he was also a faculty member of the Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences and served on its Executive Committee. He received his PhD in Microbiology and Virology from the University of Pennsylvania under the mentorship of Nobel Laureate Dr. Drew Weissman. 

Dr. Hu’s research focuses on viral immunology and development of mRNA-based broad-spectrum vaccines for RNA viruses, including HIV and respiratory pathogens. Through collaboration with other investigators, his laboratory has developed protective mRNA-LNP vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and avian influenza (H5N1), and continues to advance mRNA vaccine strategies for HIV/AIDS. His laboratory is also developing RNA-delivered monoclonal antibodies as both prophylactics and therapeutics for viral infections.  Dr. Hu has served as an expert reviewer for major vaccine-related grant panels (U19 and P01) and as a peer reviewer for leading scientific journals, including Science Translational Medicine, Science Immunology, and Nature Communications.

Peter Dull is the deputy director for Integrated Clinical Vaccine Development within the Global Health Division. In this role, he provides technical and strategic guidance on clinical development to the foundation’s program strategy teams, including Pneumonia and Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases, and external partners. In addition, he leads the foundation’s vaccine development activities for HPV vaccines, including efforts with reduced dose schedules.

Peter joined the foundation in 2014 after 10 years at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics where he was the clinical franchise head for Meningitis and Sepsis Vaccines. During that time, he led the clinical development and global licensure for a quadrivalent meningococcal glycoconjugate vaccine (Menveo; MenACWY-CRM) as well as a protein-based serogroup B meningococcal vaccine (Bexsero; 4CMenB). His work also included early clinical development of Group B strep glycoconjugate and Staph aureus vaccines. Prior to joining Novartis, he was an epidemic intelligence service officer in the Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and completed subspecialty training in infectious diseases at Emory University.

He received his medical degree at University of Wisconsin-Madison and Internal Medicine training at Oregon Health Sciences University.

Prof. Tang received her BEs degree in Economics from China Pharmaceutical University in 2008, PhD degree in Social Medicine and Health Management from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2015 with an Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award. Then she completed her postdoctoral research in Pharmaceutical Policy and Science with a CSC scholarship at the College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona during 2017-2018 after she started her career in China Pharmaceutical University. In her life as PI, Dr Tang has received six national fundings from National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Science and Technology and Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. Her grants covered topics in integrated care, regulatory science of vaccines and capability development in primary care. With the support from those fundings, Dr Tang has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as JAMA Network Open, BMC Medicine and Value in Health. Several of her research findings has received commendations from national and provincial officials, and her research on prescription drug pricing was featured in a US news report in 2018. With all the contributions to academia world, Dr Tang was awarded the Jiangsu Outstanding Youth Talent in Social Science in 2019 and selected as the third-tier talent in Jiangsu "333 High-Level Talent Cultivation Project" in 2021. Her industrious work in teaching also made her course, "Pharmaceutical Value and Economic Evaluation", recognized as a National Outstanding Online Course by the National Pharmacy Teaching Steering Committee and as an Excellent Graduate Course in Jiangsu Province. She has also contributed to a national textbook Health Technology Assessment (2nd Edition).

Dr. Tang has several social appointments too, covering Health Service Management Branch/Fertility Preservation Committee of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, County Health Special Committee of the Chinese Rural Health Association, Pharmacoeconomics Special Committee of the Chinese Research Hospital Association, Pharmacoeconomics Professional Committee of the Jiangsu Pharmaceutical Association, etc.